---
layout: api
page_title: HTTP API
description: |-
  Nomad exposes a RESTful HTTP API to control almost every aspect of the
  Nomad agent.
---

# HTTP API

The main interface to Nomad is a RESTful HTTP API. The API can query the current
state of the system as well as modify the state of the system. The Nomad CLI
actually invokes Nomad's HTTP for many commands.

## Version Prefix

All API routes are prefixed with `/v1/`.

## Addressing and Ports

Nomad binds to a specific set of addresses and ports. The HTTP API is served via
the `http` address and port. This `address:port` must be accessible locally. If
you bind to `127.0.0.1:4646`, the API is only available _from that host_. If you
bind to a private internal IP, the API will be available from within that
network. If you bind to a public IP, the API will be available from the public
Internet (not recommended).

The default port for the Nomad HTTP API is `4646`. This can be overridden via
the Nomad configuration block. Here is an example curl request to query a Nomad
server with the default configuration:

```shell-session
$ curl http://127.0.0.1:4646/v1/agent/members
```

The conventions used in the API documentation do not list a port and use the
standard URL `localhost:4646`. Be sure to replace this with your Nomad agent URL
when using the examples.

## Data Model and Layout

There are five primary nouns in Nomad:

- jobs
- nodes
- allocations
- deployments
- evaluations

[![Nomad Data Model](/img/nomad-data-model.png)](/img/nomad-data-model.png)

Jobs are submitted by users and represent a _desired state_. A job is a
declarative description of tasks to run which are bounded by constraints and
require resources. Jobs can also have affinities which are used to express placement
preferences. Nodes are the servers in the clusters that tasks can be
scheduled on. The mapping of tasks in a job to nodes is done using allocations.
An allocation is used to declare that a set of tasks in a job should be run on a
particular node. Scheduling is the process of determining the appropriate
allocations and is done as part of an evaluation. Deployments are objects to
track a rolling update of allocations between two versions of a job.

The API is modeled closely on the underlying data model. Use the links to the
left for documentation about specific endpoints. There are also "Agent" APIs
which interact with a specific agent and not the broader cluster used for
administration.

## ACLs

Several endpoints in Nomad use or require ACL tokens to operate. The token are used to authenticate the request and determine if the request is allowed based on the associated authorizations. Tokens are specified per-request by using the `X-Nomad-Token` request header or with the Bearer scheme in the authorization header set to the `SecretID` of an ACL Token.

For more details about ACLs, please see the [ACL Guide](/nomad/tutorials/access-control).

## Authentication

When ACLs are enabled, a Nomad token should be provided to API requests using the `X-Nomad-Token` header or with the Bearer scheme in the authorization header. When using authentication, clients should communicate via TLS.

Here is an example using curl with `X-Nomad-Token`:

```shell-session
$ curl \
    --header "X-Nomad-Token: aa534e09-6a07-0a45-2295-a7f77063d429" \
    https://localhost:4646/v1/jobs
```

Below is an example using `curl` with a [RFC6750](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6750) Bearer token:

```shell-session
$ curl \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
    http://localhost:4646/v1/jobs
```

## Namespaces

Nomad has support for namespaces, which allow jobs and their associated objects
to be segmented from each other and other users of the cluster. When using
non-default namespace, the API request must pass the target namespace as an API
query parameter.

Here is an example using curl to query the `qa` namespace:

```shell-session
$ curl 'localhost:4646/v1/jobs?namespace=qa'
```

Use a wildcard (`*`) to query all namespaces:

```shell-session
$ curl 'localhost:4646/v1/jobs?namespace=*'
```

## Filtering

Filter expressions refine data queries for some API listing endpoints, as
notated in the individual API endpoints documentation.

To create a filter expression, you will write one or more expressions. Each
expression has matching operators composed of selectors and values.

Filtering is executed on the Nomad server, before data is returned, reducing
the network load. To pass a filter expression to Nomad, use the `filter` query
parameter with the URL encoded expression when sending requests to HTTP API
endpoints that support it.

```shell-session
$ curl --get https://localhost:4646/v1/<path> \
    --data-urlencode 'filter=<filter expression>'
```

The filter expression can also be specified in the
[`-filter`][cli_operator_api_filter] flag of the
[`nomad operator api`][cli_operator_api] command.

```shell-session
$ nomad operator api -filter '<filter expression>' /v1/<path>
```

Some endpoints may have other query parameters that are used for filtering, but
they can't be used with the `filter` query parameter. Doing so will result in a
`400` status error response. These query parameters are usually backed by a
database index, so they may be prefereable over an equivalent simple `filter`
expression due to better resource usage and performance.

### List Stubs

Some list endpoints return a reduced version of the resource being queried.
This smaller version is called a _stub_ and may have different fields than the
full resource definition. To allow more expressive filtering operations, the
filter is applied to the full version, not the stub.

If a request returns an error such as `error finding value in datum` the field
used in filter expression may need to be adjusted. For example, filtering on
node addresses should use the `HTTPAddr` field of the full node definition
instead of `Address` field present in the stub.

```shell-session
$ nomad operator api -filter 'HTTPAddr matches "10.0.0..+"' /v1/nodes
```

### Creating Expressions

A single expression is a matching operator with a selector and value and they
are written in plain text format. Boolean logic and parenthesization are
supported. In general, whitespace is ignored, except within literal strings.

#### Matching Operators

All matching operators use a selector or value to choose what data should be
matched. Each endpoint that supports filtering accepts a potentially
different list of selectors and is detailed in the API documentation for
those endpoints.

```hcl
// Equality & Inequality checks
<Selector> == "<Value>"
<Selector> != "<Value>"

// Emptiness checks
<Selector> is empty
<Selector> is not empty

// Contains checks or Substring Matching
"<Value>" in <Selector>
"<Value>" not in <Selector>
<Selector> contains "<Value>"
<Selector> not contains "<Value>"

// Regular Expression Matching
<Selector> matches "<Value>"
<Selector> not matches "<Value>"
```

#### Selectors

Selectors are used by matching operators to create an expression. They are
defined by a `.` separated list of names. Each name must start with an ASCII
letter and can contain ASCII letters, numbers, and underscores. When part of
the selector references a map value it may be expressed using the form
`["<map key name>"]` instead of `.<map key name>`. This allows the possibility
of using map keys that are not valid selectors in and of themselves.

```hcl
// selects the `cache` key within the `TaskGroups` mapping for the
// /v1/deployments endpoint
TaskGroups.cache

// Also selects the `cache` key for the same endpoint
TaskGroups["cache"]
```

#### Values

Values are used by matching operators to create an expression. Values can be
any valid selector, a number, or a string. It is best practice to quote values.
Numbers can be base 10 integers or floating point numbers.

When quoting strings, they may either be enclosed in double quotes or
backticks. When enclosed in backticks they are treated as raw strings and
escape sequences such as `\n` will not be expanded.

### Connecting Expressions

There are several methods for connecting expressions, including:

- logical `or`
- logical `and`
- logical `not`
- grouping with parenthesis
- matching expressions

```hcl
// Logical Or - evaluates to true if either sub-expression does
<Expression 1> or <Expression 2>

// Logical And - evaluates to true if both sub-expressions do
<Expression 1 > and <Expression 2>

// Logical Not - evaluates to true if the sub-expression does not
not <Expression 1>

// Grouping - Overrides normal precedence rules
( <Expression 1> )

// Inspects data to check for a match
<Matching Expression 1>
```

Standard operator precedence can be expected for the various forms. For
example, the following two expressions would be equivalent.

```hcl
<Expression 1> and not <Expression 2> or <Expression 3>

( <Expression 1> and (not <Expression 2> )) or <Expression 3>
```

### Filter Utilization

Generally, only the main object is filtered. When filtering for an item within
an array that is not at the top level, the entire array that contains the item
will be returned. This is usually the outermost object of a response, but in
some cases the filtering is performed on a object embedded within the results.

#### Performance

Filters are executed on the servers and therefore will consume some amount
of CPU time on the server. For non-stale queries this means that the filter
is executed on the leader.

#### Filtering Examples

##### Jobs API

Command (Unfiltered)

```shell-session
$ nomad operator api /v1/jobs
```

Response (Unfiltered)

```json
[
  {
    "CreateIndex": 52,
    "Datacenters": [
      "dc1",
      "dc2"
    ],
    "ID": "countdash",
    "JobModifyIndex": 56,
    "JobSummary": {
      "Children": {
        "Dead": 0,
        "Pending": 0,
        "Running": 0
      },
      "CreateIndex": 52,
      "JobID": "countdash",
      "ModifyIndex": 55,
      "Namespace": "default",
      "Summary": {
        "api": {
          "Complete": 0,
          "Failed": 0,
          "Lost": 0,
          "Queued": 1,
          "Running": 0,
          "Starting": 0
        },
        "dashboard": {
          "Complete": 0,
          "Failed": 0,
          "Lost": 0,
          "Queued": 1,
          "Running": 0,
          "Starting": 0
        }
      }
    },
    "ModifyIndex": 56,
    "Multiregion": null,
    "Name": "countdash",
    "Namespace": "default",
    "ParameterizedJob": false,
    "ParentID": "",
    "Periodic": false,
    "Priority": 50,
    "Status": "pending",
    "StatusDescription": "",
    "Stop": false,
    "SubmitTime": 1645230445788556000,
    "Type": "service"
  },
  {
    "CreateIndex": 42,
    "Datacenters": [
      "dc1"
    ],
    "ID": "example",
    "JobModifyIndex": 42,
    "JobSummary": {
      "Children": {
        "Dead": 0,
        "Pending": 0,
        "Running": 0
      },
      "CreateIndex": 42,
      "JobID": "example",
      "ModifyIndex": 46,
      "Namespace": "default",
      "Summary": {
        "cache": {
          "Complete": 0,
          "Failed": 0,
          "Lost": 0,
          "Queued": 0,
          "Running": 1,
          "Starting": 0
        }
      }
    },
    "ModifyIndex": 49,
    "Multiregion": null,
    "Name": "example",
    "Namespace": "default",
    "ParameterizedJob": false,
    "ParentID": "",
    "Periodic": false,
    "Priority": 50,
    "Status": "running",
    "StatusDescription": "",
    "Stop": false,
    "SubmitTime": 1645230403921889000,
    "Type": "service"
  }
]
```

Command (Filtered)

```shell-session
$ nomad operator api -filter 'Datacenters contains "dc2"' /v1/jobs
```

Response (Filtered)

```json
[
  {
    "CreateIndex": 52,
    "Datacenters": [
      "dc1",
      "dc2"
    ],
    "ID": "countdash",
    "JobModifyIndex": 56,
    "JobSummary": {
      "Children": {
        "Dead": 0,
        "Pending": 0,
        "Running": 0
      },
      "CreateIndex": 52,
      "JobID": "countdash",
      "ModifyIndex": 55,
      "Namespace": "default",
      "Summary": {
        "api": {
          "Complete": 0,
          "Failed": 0,
          "Lost": 0,
          "Queued": 1,
          "Running": 0,
          "Starting": 0
        },
        "dashboard": {
          "Complete": 0,
          "Failed": 0,
          "Lost": 0,
          "Queued": 1,
          "Running": 0,
          "Starting": 0
        }
      }
    },
    "ModifyIndex": 56,
    "Multiregion": null,
    "Name": "countdash",
    "Namespace": "default",
    "ParameterizedJob": false,
    "ParentID": "",
    "Periodic": false,
    "Priority": 50,
    "Status": "pending",
    "StatusDescription": "",
    "Stop": false,
    "SubmitTime": 1645230445788556000,
    "Type": "service"
  }
]
```

##### Deployments API

Command (Unfiltered)

```shell-session
$ nomad operator api /v1/deployments
```

Response (Unfiltered)

```json
[
  {
    "CreateIndex": 54,
    "EvalPriority": 50,
    "ID": "58fd0616-ce64-d14b-6917-03d0ab5af67e",
    "IsMultiregion": false,
    "JobCreateIndex": 52,
    "JobID": "countdash",
    "JobModifyIndex": 52,
    "JobSpecModifyIndex": 52,
    "JobVersion": 0,
    "ModifyIndex": 59,
    "Namespace": "default",
    "Status": "cancelled",
    "StatusDescription": "Cancelled due to newer version of job",
    "TaskGroups": {
      "dashboard": {
        "AutoPromote": false,
        "AutoRevert": false,
        "DesiredCanaries": 0,
        "DesiredTotal": 1,
        "HealthyAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedCanaries": null,
        "ProgressDeadline": 600000000000,
        "Promoted": false,
        "RequireProgressBy": null,
        "UnhealthyAllocs": 0
      },
      "api": {
        "AutoPromote": false,
        "AutoRevert": false,
        "DesiredCanaries": 0,
        "DesiredTotal": 1,
        "HealthyAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedCanaries": null,
        "ProgressDeadline": 600000000000,
        "Promoted": false,
        "RequireProgressBy": null,
        "UnhealthyAllocs": 0
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "CreateIndex": 43,
    "EvalPriority": 50,
    "ID": "1f18b48c-b33b-8e96-5640-71e3f3000242",
    "IsMultiregion": false,
    "JobCreateIndex": 42,
    "JobID": "example",
    "JobModifyIndex": 42,
    "JobSpecModifyIndex": 42,
    "JobVersion": 0,
    "ModifyIndex": 49,
    "Namespace": "default",
    "Status": "successful",
    "StatusDescription": "Deployment completed successfully",
    "TaskGroups": {
      "cache": {
        "AutoPromote": false,
        "AutoRevert": false,
        "DesiredCanaries": 0,
        "DesiredTotal": 1,
        "HealthyAllocs": 1,
        "PlacedAllocs": 1,
        "PlacedCanaries": null,
        "ProgressDeadline": 600000000000,
        "Promoted": false,
        "RequireProgressBy": "2022-02-18T19:36:54.421823-05:00",
        "UnhealthyAllocs": 0
      }
    }
  }
]
```

Command (Filtered)

```shell-session
$ nomad operator api -filter 'Status != "successful"' /v1/deployments
```

Response (Filtered)

```json
[
  {
    "CreateIndex": 54,
    "EvalPriority": 50,
    "ID": "58fd0616-ce64-d14b-6917-03d0ab5af67e",
    "IsMultiregion": false,
    "JobCreateIndex": 52,
    "JobID": "countdash",
    "JobModifyIndex": 52,
    "JobSpecModifyIndex": 52,
    "JobVersion": 0,
    "ModifyIndex": 59,
    "Namespace": "default",
    "Status": "cancelled",
    "StatusDescription": "Cancelled due to newer version of job",
    "TaskGroups": {
      "dashboard": {
        "AutoPromote": false,
        "AutoRevert": false,
        "DesiredCanaries": 0,
        "DesiredTotal": 1,
        "HealthyAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedCanaries": null,
        "ProgressDeadline": 600000000000,
        "Promoted": false,
        "RequireProgressBy": null,
        "UnhealthyAllocs": 0
      },
      "api": {
        "AutoPromote": false,
        "AutoRevert": false,
        "DesiredCanaries": 0,
        "DesiredTotal": 1,
        "HealthyAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedAllocs": 0,
        "PlacedCanaries": null,
        "ProgressDeadline": 600000000000,
        "Promoted": false,
        "RequireProgressBy": null,
        "UnhealthyAllocs": 0
      }
    }
  }
]
```

## Pagination

Some list endpoints support partial results to limit the amount of data
retrieved. The returned list is split into pages and the page size can be set
using the `per_page` query parameter with a positive integer value.

If more data is available past the page requested, the response will contain an
HTTP header named `X-Nomad-Nexttoken` with the value of the next item to be
retrieved. This value can then be set as a query parameter called `next_token`
in a follow-up request to retrieve the next page.

When the last page is reached, the `X-Nomad-Nexttoken` HTTP header will not
be present in the response, indicating that there is nothing more to return.

## Ordering

List results are usually returned in ascending order by their internal key,
such as their `ID`. Some endpoints may return data sorted by their
`CreateIndex` value, which roughly corelates to their creation order. The
result order may be reversed using the `reverse=true` query parameter when
supported by the endpoint.

## Blocking Queries

Many endpoints in Nomad support a feature known as "blocking queries". A
blocking query is used to wait for a potential change using long polling. Not
all endpoints support blocking, but each endpoint uniquely documents its support
for blocking queries in the documentation.

Endpoints that support blocking queries return an HTTP header named
`X-Nomad-Index`. This is a unique identifier representing the current state of
the requested resource. On a new Nomad cluster the value of this index starts at 1.

On subsequent requests for this resource, the client can set the `index` query
string parameter to the value of `X-Nomad-Index`, indicating that the client
wishes to wait for any changes subsequent to that index.

When this is provided, the HTTP request will "hang" until a change in the system
occurs, or the maximum timeout is reached. A critical note is that the return of
a blocking request is **no guarantee** of a change. It is possible that the
timeout was reached or that there was an idempotent write that does not affect
the result of the query.

In addition to `index`, endpoints that support blocking will also honor a `wait`
parameter specifying a maximum duration for the blocking request. This is
limited to 10 minutes. If not set, the wait time defaults to 5 minutes. This
value can be specified in the form of "10s" or "5m" (i.e., 10 seconds or 5
minutes, respectively). A small random amount of additional wait time is added
to the supplied maximum `wait` time to spread out the wake up time of any
concurrent requests. This adds up to `wait / 16` additional time to the maximum
duration.

## Consistency Modes

Most of the read query endpoints support multiple levels of consistency. Since
no policy will suit all clients' needs, these consistency modes allow the user
to have the ultimate say in how to balance the trade-offs inherent in a
distributed system.

The two read modes are:

- `default` - If not specified, the default is strongly consistent in almost all
  cases. However, there is a small window in which a new leader may be elected
  during which the old leader may service stale values. The trade-off is fast
  reads but potentially stale values. The condition resulting in stale reads is
  hard to trigger, and most clients should not need to worry about this case.
  Also, note that this race condition only applies to reads, not writes.

- `stale` - This mode allows any server to service the read regardless of
  whether it is the leader. This means reads can be arbitrarily stale; however,
  results are generally consistent to within 50 milliseconds of the leader. The
  trade-off is very fast and scalable reads with a higher likelihood of stale
  values. Since this mode allows reads without a leader, a cluster that is
  unavailable will still be able to respond to queries.

To switch these modes, use the `stale` query parameter on requests.

To support bounding the acceptable staleness of data, responses provide the
`X-Nomad-LastContact` header containing the time in milliseconds that a server
was last contacted by the leader node. The `X-Nomad-KnownLeader` header also
indicates if there is a known leader. These can be used by clients to gauge the
staleness of a result and take appropriate action.

## Cross-Region Requests

By default, any request to the HTTP API will default to the region on which the
machine is servicing the request. If the agent runs in "region1", the request
will query the region "region1". A target region can be explicitly request using
the `?region` query parameter. The request will be transparently forwarded and
serviced by a server in the requested region.

## Compressed Responses

The HTTP API will gzip the response if the HTTP request denotes that the client
accepts gzip compression. This is achieved by passing the accept encoding:

```shell-session
$ curl \
    --header "Accept-Encoding: gzip" \
    https://localhost:4646/v1/...
```

## Formatted JSON Output

By default, the output of all HTTP API requests is minimized JSON. If the client
passes `pretty` on the query string, formatted JSON will be returned.

In general, clients should prefer a client-side parser like `jq` instead of
server-formatted data. Asking the server to format the data takes away
processing cycles from more important tasks.

```shell-session
$ curl https://localhost:4646/v1/page?pretty
```

## HTTP Methods

Nomad's API aims to be RESTful, although there are some exceptions. The API
responds to the standard HTTP verbs GET, PUT, and DELETE. Each API method will
clearly document the verb(s) it responds to and the generated response. The same
path with different verbs may trigger different behavior. For example:

```text
PUT /v1/jobs
GET /v1/jobs
```

Even though these share a path, the `PUT` operation creates a new job whereas
the `GET` operation reads all jobs.

## HTTP Response Codes

Individual API's will contain further documentation in the case that more
specific response codes are returned but all clients should handle the following:

- 200 and 204 as success codes.
- 400 indicates a validation failure and if a parameter is modified in the
  request, it could potentially succeed.
- 403 marks that the client isn't authenticated for the request.
- 404 indicates an unknown resource.
- 5xx means that the client should not expect the request to succeed if retried.

[cli_operator_api]: /nomad/commands/operator/api
[cli_operator_api_filter]: /nomad/commands/operator/api#filter
